Australian and New Zealand Gardening: BROMELIADS FOR NOVICES & ADDICTS JULY & AUGUST 2012, 3 by splinter1804

splinter1804 wrote:Hi everyone – Well while you all wait for a drop of rain up north, we are in the same situation down here; just a few spots just to torment us and then just more wind.

I’d just like to add my “two bobs worth” to the comments about the Face Book Brom forums, like any of the other brom forums, the problem is not the forum, but with a very small minority of "stirrers" on them. Someone just makes a comment and then someone comes back with a “smart arsed” answer and it just seems to escalate from there. Unfortunately these people seem to get their kicks from spoiling it for others; it’s always been the case and I don’t imagine it will ever be any different. The best way to stop these people is to just ignore what they say and don’t respond, because if you answer them someone else will then come in with their bit and the whole thing gets out of hand and we finish up with a slanging match which has nothing to do with brom’s anyway!

Wendy – It’s interesting to hear what you have to say about the Ae.Orlandiana Rainbow; if you didn’t pollinate it who did, and with what? What other Aechmeas did you have in flower at the same time or maybe insects just crossed it with itself. It will be interesting to see what the seed produces, and if you have a couple of spare capsules, you could send them down south so I can see as well.

What I do with seed like this that is hard to clean, I just squeeze it onto a sheet of photo copy paper, fold it up and let it dry for a few days, after that they are easily scraped off, but I still reckon the best way is to squeeze it straight from the pod onto the growing medium, I know it’s messy and awkward but there’s less chance of contamination because while ever the seed is in the capsule it’s clean and non-contaminated by external fungi etc.

Sue - I like the pic’s of your garden, you just seems to have that “magic touch” something I very much lack. I especially like what you’ve done with the old laundry tub and the hand pump (that certainly brings back boyhood memories). I personally wouldn’t paint it, leave it as it is and maintain that little bit of what things were like in the past.

It’s interesting to hear what you say about the Ae. Chantinii pods; if they do eventually ripen, I’d really appreciate a little seed if you can spare some as we have a very hard time growing Ae Chantinii down here with the cold, and I’d like to see if growing them from seed makes them more cold tolerant like it does with some of the other types. I’ve also given a few Billbergias another go again this year in the hope of getting a bit of seed, so far so good with a couple, as they haven’t withered up and died like previous ones did (yet)

Shirley – You should know better than to try and move heavy things like large pots, it’s far better to wait until someone else comes along to help as it’s not going to go anywhere.
I like the pic of your vriesea, it has very interesting markings and I’ll be interested in seeing them again when it matures. There are three very interesting and different pictures of it on the BCR http://botu07.bio.uu.nl/bcg/bcr/index.php?genus=VRIESEA&id=8... just to give you an idea of what you will be getting.

Well that’s about it from me this morning as I have a “Brom Workshop” to go to today. We are using this one to show a lot of the newer members how to clean up plants in preparation for exhibiting at the show and pointing out the things that judges’ look for. We have been having a very good showing at our monthly point score from the novice growers and we are hopeful of persuading them to continue it on and exhibit in our annual show as well. They are all very keen but some just need a “little push” to get them to enter in the show. I always tell them it’s not really about winning prizes but more about showing these beautiful plants for everyone to enjoy.

I’ll just finish with a few pic’s; No.1 is a very old Neo hybrid of Neo ‘Sarmentosa’ x ‘Chloristicha’ No. 2 is an interesting plant of Neo ‘Orange Flush’ - Every year it produces two pups one is plain and one is variegated (the old mother was in the centre but is now long gone), 3, 4 and 5 show three different clones of Nidularium ‘Procerum’ (orange) each one a little different.